The Forgotten War
by Droyce Medis
Summary: An Elite commands a strong force through the worst battles of the new earth, the flood still remains his prime target but his lack of knowledge surrounding the rebellion makes it hard to decide who his true allies are. REVIEW PLEASE!
1. The Infestation

The Forgotten war

Prologue

No matter how intelligent the humans are they still never realized that the covenant had been at two wars the entire time. The flood at the first ring were not the first flood the covenant had encountered. There was an entire cover-up created so only a select few knew the truth. That's where my fleet comes in, I command the Awakening Dawn. I run an operation to make sure the flood can never bother the covenant again. Unfortunately, after Regret was killed I lost much of my resources and my fleet slowly withered. I had docked at High Charity when I sensed rebellion in the air. Against the orders I swore too, I spoke about the great flood mission. Many elites swore to join me and soon my fleet doubled. I left with my amazing new fleet just as the fights broke, unfortunately I was still caught in the space battle and lost a few of my gun ships.

While the rest of the covenant and rebellion were fighting out around the second ring I made my way to the remains of the first halo. The sight was horrible, the rings pieces were brought into the orbit of the nearby planet and had crashed into its ground. As we investigated we quickly realized that the whole planet was infested and beyond cleansing. As horrible as it was I still hated destroying the entire planets ecosystem when I ordered the ships to glass it. As the flames licked at the planets trees I turned my back and ordered the ships to end the glassing and make their way to High Charity. The trip their allowed me to think of my choices in the past few days. I quickly realized that this war was going to come down to which side was crazy enough to pull a suicide mission into the heart of the enemy. I didn't realize how right I would become.

The sight at High Charity was awful, the glittery surface was covered in grime and ash. The lights were fading and human ships that were aflame were colliding with the surface. Since humans would never crash there ships on purpose I knew that there was an infestation about to hit the covenant stronghold. I ordered the ships to land in the highest dock and prepare for war. I equipped myself with an energy sword and another experimental weapon designed to hit at the heart of the infestation.

I was on the second phantom to land in order to guarantee myself some of the action. When I landed however I was stuck with most of the action because the first squad was overrun by flood. I ordered the third and fourth phantoms to come in together, and had the fifth and sixth phantoms in the dock next to ours. After a long and heated battle my men came across a gruesome and horrific sight. The demon was stepping into the power beam and was instantly thrust into the engine bay of the blessed ship. I knew I had to follow so I quickly fought my way back to the docks and got in the phantoms. Earth was an even worse sight because of its battles.

I now saw the true war, the inevitable war, the forgotten war.


	2. Lonely Funeral

Chapter 1

A dark mass of clouds was forming over Africa, I had never seen such a horrific storm in my life. The bridge was a hive of activity, the communication screens were all filled from the captains of the other ships in the fleet. There was a large blockade of Elite ships around Africa. Luckily my ship ID was still registered as Elite owned even though it was given to me by a Prophet. We slowly edged through the barricade and into earths atmosphere only to witness something amazing. The storm that we saw from space had turned into a full blown hurricane. As the ships broke through the clouds the lightning was hitting the bulks so frequently the shields were overloaded and quickly disappeared. This, of course, just added to the chaos of the bridge as signals were blaring throughout the ship.

As the ship hovered over a small forest on the edge of New Mombassa, a MAC round tore through the trees and set the forest ablaze. The rain was covering up the windows so it was hard to tell where the blast came from. The pilots soon switched to night vision and the window instantly revealed what had launched it. A small human cruiser was hovering over the forest and sending entire logs around it. I gave a shake of the hand and instantly sent a wave of plasma sending to the ship. The communication screen flipped on and it showed a marine.

"I wondered how long it would take for the elites to break their promise," the captain said with a small sneer. I was puzzled but I kept my face looking calm.

"What is this madness you speak of, my noble race swore to never speak of your kind in nothing but the strongest curses," I said as I banged my fist on the chair, the marine let out a laugh.

"You're a little behind, the humans and elites have a shaky alliance established," the marine said, he was pointing directions to the pilot but I didn't understand them.

"Humans and elites do not belong on the same battlefield unless they are killing each other," I said as I stood up, it was only to make myself look taller. The marine laughed once again.

"We're only allied because individually we don't stand a chance against the brutes, let alone the flood," the marine seemed to say this while examining his hands.

"Don't worry about the abomination, that's why I'm here," I said while holding up my plasma rifle. The marine had the slightest snicker on his face but it quickly faded. It wasn't until the slightest amount of worry showed on the marines face that I saw the lines on his face that showed he was either middle-aged or very miserable.

"Well, if your as good as you gloat you should probably follow me. I'm not saying there's flood but there is a small brute base," the marine nodded at me and I slowly returned it.

"Very well, my men have been sitting down awhile and I'm sure they're ready for war," I said as I waved at the pilot beside me. The human frigate started to glide along the trees in front of me. The pilot beside me punched some numbers into the computer and the whole fleet started to follow. After a short ride that was strangely uneventful with only the sound of the incredibly strong storm to wither the time away we came across the goal of the day. A small temple could partially be seen through the rain. I stared hungrily at it and only snapped out of my trance when I saw small ships leaving the human frigate in front of me.

"Send ten phantoms full of elites to that temple, I will give them orders at landfall," I said as I walked through the halls to the ground commander. He saluted me then ran down to the barracks. I walked to the armory and took so long to find my weapon that the first phantom had already left by the time I got to the hangar. I walked into the gravity lift that sent me into the phantom and clutched my new sword and my beam rifle. I soon hoisted the rifle onto my back and held the small shaft of silvery metal, it glittered in the purple lights of the phantom. I was stunned by how this insignificant piece of metal could turn into one of the deadliest weapons in the covenants arsenal at the lightest of my squeezes.

As I slid down the lift and onto the muddy ground I realized how strong the storm was. The wind nearly blew the sword out of my hand but luckily I was able to hang onto it. The downside was that the shock of the whole thing made me accidentally squeeze it a little too hard and the blade shot out and cut my leg. The gash instantly released a bluish liquid. The medic wrapped it up and I started out towards the temple. I was stopped in my path by the marines who had already got some action, there were three brute bodies and one marine that had a bandage over his leg.

"We were ambushed upon landing, Frank was hit by a spike. We just got it off when it blew up," the marine I talked to on the ship was saying this to my obvious confusion at the hurt marine. I nodded and walked down the trail, the marine whispered a few things to the soldiers and they all split up. The marine was following my elites with two soldiers of his own.

"I think formal introductions are needed, my name is Jester. Commander Jester," said the marine as he looked at one of my soldiers who was growling at soldier standing beside him. I shook my head and continued walking the trail was getting thinner and soon I was stomping over grass and tangled branches, the marines seemed to be having problems and were quickly falling behind. It wasn't until a loud crack filled the air that all the elites stopped in their tracks. I unleashed the menacing weapon that was the energy sword and listened. Unfortunately, all I could hear was the hushed breathing of the humans who had just caught up and were pointing there guns in every direction.

After I failed to locate the noise I continued down the path, I could clearly see the temple now and there was a doorway leading into the ground a little ways down the muddy path. After a short walk I was at the edge of the dark tunnel that, from what I could see, had no end. Commander Jester came up behind me and through a flare down the hole. After it rolled down the slope for a few seconds it came to a stop.

"Looks like a thirty meter walk sir," said a marine who came up beside Jester. I started down the tunnel and kept my sword out. The marines were behind me with the elites bringing up the rear. As I rounded the corner I heard a yell and turned to see the marines shooting at a brute that had just popped out of a secret tunnel in the wall. It had wild gray hair that was covering its entire body except for its face which had leathery skin. Its dark green eyes looked right at me and seemed to awaken something inside me. I ran at it and prepared for the impact. As I ran into I felt as if I ran into a brick wall, the shock made me drop the sword and quiver a little.

The brute took the chance and put its muscular hands around my throat. I felt its iron grip start to contract and I fell to the ground in pain. I looked around for the sword through my watery eyes. I soon gripped it and I barely had enough energy to thrust it into the gut of the thing. It screamed but still kept its hold on my neck I tried to pull the sword out but my limited strength wouldn't allow it. I could feel my lungs start to break from lack of air. I could barely see the brute get mauled by the elites, the sudden attack made the brute forget about me and I was able to wrestle free.

I was so busy trying to stay conscious I didn't see the next battle but it was apparently noisy. As I was being helped up by another Elite I saw the brute lying dead with half the right side of the top of his head missing. The shotgun that did it was lying down beside a dead marine.

"He gave his life to save you, when he was stuck with a spike grenade he picked up the shotgun and opened fire," the commander said as he slung the body over his shoulder and walked out of the temple.

"Tell the elites outside to clear out the rest of the temple, I'm done in here," I said as I turned to leave the temple too. The elite nodded and ran outside. I sat on the ground and watched the pack of elites run into the temple with their guns ready before I turned to the humans. They were digging a hole to bury the soldier. The commander looked up at me with a solemn look, I stood up and grabbed a shovel. I started to dig but stopped before I got more than one load out of the ground.

"Why bury this soldier on the ground he was murdered?" I asked but the look the commander gave me told me not to pursue the answer. I went back to digging.

"It's a marine tradition to take the dead back to their country, but this was supposed to be our trip home. I wanted to pursue the base and strive for glory. So I'm not following the tradition of something we aren't. He always told us to leave him if he fell, but everyone needs a funeral," the commander said this as the hole was finally dug. I lifted up the body and gently placed it in the hole. It was only a few feet deep but he still fit nicely in.

"We always joked around about every soldiers fate being a shallow grave in the middle of a battlefield. We've seen a lot of guys suffer that fate but you seemed so tough, so invincible. I can't stand thinking about what were going to have to do in battle to make up for your absence. Plus you were the one who always trained the rooks and now we have to train one to replace you. Goodbye, old friend," the commander had talked rather strongly but the last few words ended up in a whisper that I could barely hear. One of the marines took off a necklace and put it on the ground. Another marine took out a dagger and carved some words into the ground.

After the soldiers stepped away I looked down at the grave. The mud read, "Here Lies Lank Reece The Best Shot Yet". I turned around and looked at the temple, the elites were slowly making their way out. One was being supported by the others and I quickly realized why. His right leg had been cut in half.

"A brute with a large hammer attacked us, when more brutes ambushed us they held him against the wall. When he was pinned the brute swung the hammer and…well…you can imagine the rest," the elite gulped and looked at his hurt friend. His breath was slow and painful, he coughed up blood and passed out. I looked at him and felt a wave of pity hit me. I nodded and walked away, not wanting to show my true emotions. The storm was about to start again so I got in the phantom and left. As I was leaving I saw the other phantoms take off with the other elites. On the way back to the ship I wondered what the Covenant tradition for death is.


	3. The Unforgiven Welcome

Chapter 2

The sky was still dark and cloudy, the lightning had shut down the engines of my flag ship. I had my best engineers working on getting the ship back up and running, unfortunately the engineers themselves were being killed by the lightning. I was sitting in the bridge waiting for information when I got a message from one of the pilots.

"The engines are in a catastrophic state, the engineers say it will be impossible to fix in this storm," the pilot said and he quickly went back to looking at figures on a screen. I slowly nodded and, accepting my next choice, got up and went to the intercom.

"All soldiers are to head to the command hangar now. Pilots I want the hangar emptied out and all ships can be sent to the other ships in the fleet," I got off the intercom and walked out of the bridge. The corridors were packed with soldiers who were heading to the hangar. Many of the veterans were taking weapons, just in case. I walked into my private quarters and saw my old golden combat armor from the original flood wars. I walked up to it and slid my long fingers down the helmet, a small dent in the top was where a flood carrier had exploded beside and sent a chunk of metal hurling at me. I had never felt as close to death as that. I had passed out and woken up in the frigates infirmary with infection forms all over his body.

He was putting it on and suddenly had a vivid flashback of a large tentacle wrapping itself around his spirit drop ship and yanking it into a large hole. He could see himself climbing out of the ship and flood swarming into the ship. Only three elites survived the crash and they were shooting madly into the wave. As soon as death was literally nipping at their ankles five drop ships flew into the hole and the flood scattered. The elites used this moment to jump into the drop ships and soon were back above ground.

I quickly snapped out of the dream, I knew the moment very well. This was the mission that earned me the golden armor. I wasn't even the reason we got out of their, I was awarded for exceptional leadership because the pilots saved us. I found a wall that was just cleaned so it was exceptionally reflective. I looked at how the armor seemed to barely cling to my body, I had become less muscular since I was a ground commander. It was odd though, I felt no attachment to the glittering armor. I quickly shrugged it off and put on the uniform I was wearing before I changed.

I stepped into the empty halls and quickly found myself in the packed hangar. I squeezed myself through the pack of elites, they were quietly whispering and pointing in my direction. I walked up the steps that led to a catwalk above the hangar. I turned around and examined the hundreds of eyes looking at me. I sighed and looked at my two field commanders standing beside me.

"For a long time I've wondered why we feel so obliged to hate the humans but yet we ally with them in order to fight who we once _worshipped_. I didn't understand why until I realized something." I looked at the other elites, they seemed to be clinging to my next words. I'm sure they were hoping for a brilliant war strategy.

"We're afraid," I said as I raised my arms as if I was hanging on a cross. I got the reaction I expected, the elites instantly erupted in a wave of excuses. Most clearly was one in golden armor screaming that elites can't feel fear. _obviously this elite hasn't faced much before _I silently thought to my self. I put my arms down.

"Yes, yes, I know you think elites can't feel fear. However, that doesn't mean it isn't there. What do you think it is when you realize something is foolish, that is fear telling you not to do it," suddenly a large thud echoed on the catwalk, I looked to my side and saw a large brute holding a hammer confidently walking towards me. I turned to him and the field commanders beside me pulled out rifles.

"You elites are the most loathsome creatures I've ever seen. Although you were right about how your afraid of us," the brute got right in my face and smiled. His breath smelled of rotten meat.

"Fear won't stop us from killing, you should keep that on your mind beast," I said as I spit the last word from my mouth. I tried to return the smile but I was too busy watching the brutes hands wrapped around the hammer.

"I shall wait for the day when your armies meet mine on the battlefield, but for now this will have to do," the brute growled at me and walked away, as he turned around he bashed the bottom of the hammers handle into my rib. I bent a little in pain and the commanders beside me pulled out swords. They charged at the brute and he quickly turned around and swung the hammer.

What happened next was truly amazing, even though the hammer had no contact with either of the elites a wave of energy sent one of them flying. I was slightly reminded of Tartarus's hammer but that was hanging above the head of some elite admiral somewhere. The second commander went to jump on the brute but was knocked back by one of his muscular hands. As the elite got up the brute slammed his hammer on the catwalk and sent a wave of energy that knocked me on my feet and sent the second elite off the edge of the catwalk.

"Stop!" I screamed and the elites below me lowered their weapons which were just risen and ready to fire.

"Wise choice," the brute said as he walked down the stairs and left in a banshee which must have suffered a rough landing because it was against a wall of the hangar. I slowly got to my feet and dismissed the elites. I slowly walked to a small group of elites that had stayed, when they saw me coming they turned to me and straightened up.

"I'm guessing you stayed because you have nothing to do," The elites nodded to me and I signaled for them to follow me. I walked through a door that led to the other hangar and got in a phantom. Inside were two more elites who were sitting down and talking.

"Take us down to Earth," I said as the elites gave a small jump and nodded while walking into the cockpit. I turned to the five elites who were all rubbing their weapons.

"I'm going down to see what's causing this storm. Nothing I've ever seen could cause this storm naturally, and I have a feeling the last prophet is involved in what's causing it," I sat down as I finished the sentence and the elites soon did the same. I pulled out my plasma rifle and looked at it. I had no idea how that brute slipped past our defenses, could it be that the other ships in my fleet still haven't realized that the brutes are our enemies. If this was true then they wouldn't take too kindly to me ordering the ships to glass whatever was causing this storm. I couldn't stand the feeling of not trusting my own fleet, let alone my own species.

To get out of my head I got up and walked around, I noticed the other elites were watching me carefully. I kept strolling back and forth until the phantom gave a little shudder and the sides opened up. I walked outside to the edge of a cliff, the sight at the bottom of a large valley amazed me. Banshees and pelicans were flying in between transports that were glassing the surface. I soon realized that the transports were digging. A large pyramid like shuttle was docked in the center. The lightning and rain was even heavier in the valley, I noticed the wind was shoving banshees off course and many unnecessary barrel rolls were being executed.

I walked around the cliff and saw that it was completely empty except for some scattered pieces of metal. The elites were now walking around and seemed to be in a trance from the valley. I saw some pelicans flying over a hill in the distance and knew that they were planning on how to attack the object. I suddenly had a great idea.

"Soldiers, get back in the phantom," I said as I jumped in as the side doors started to shut. The phantom took off with a jolt.

"Follow those pelicans," I said as the pilot started to chase after the human transports, the phantom took a sudden nosedive and machinegun fire could be heard bouncing off the sides of the phantom. The side doors opened and I looked out into the air. A small base could be seen built into the side of the hill. When the gunners saw me they stopped shooting and a soldier stepped out.

"You've got the wrong ideas floating into our base in a monkey vehicle," the soldier said as he cupped his hands over his eyes to block out the sun. I walked off the side of the phantom and stepped up to the soldier. He was short even for a human, probably only five and a half feet tall. His once black hair had faded to a dark grey, and he was covered with worry lines.

"What do you mean brute vehicle, I've used these phantoms since the rebellion," I said, slightly confused, to the man. He laughed.

"The elites have switched to green phantoms that can turn invisible," he said as he turned and looked at my soldiers who had just walked out of the phantom.

"I want to assault that storm but I'll need the support of a good navy, my ground troops are more than capable of doing it without ground support but I only have four ships and one is in critical disrepair," I said as I looked at the man, his expression changed from worry to delight.

"I want to introduce you to someone," he said as he turned his back to me and a man walked up smoking a cigar, I didn't understand the smug look on his face until he blew smoke in my face I then had a sudden flashback.


	4. Reality Check

Chapter 3

I was laying on the ground, my spirit had just been crashed into the side of a cliff. All I noticed was that I was apparently in the right place because a green ooze was spread over many of my soldiers bodies and the bodies of all my elites were gone. I walked through the swamp until I came to a building, five human soldiers were walking inside it. I pulled out my plasma rifle and walked down the slope that led to the doors. I didn't think the humans knew about the dangers inside the building they were going so I knew only a few, if any, soldiers would walk out of their alive. I sat down beside the door and waited for what seemed like hours.

I heard the door start to slide open and one soldier walked out. His skin was a deep brown and his arm was cut with a deep gash. The human leaned up against the wall on the opposite side of the door and turned away from me. I took this moment to slide away from him and hide behind a tree. I watched him bandage his arm and he started walking through the swamp.

I took my chance, while his back was turned I grabbed his healthy arm and slammed him against the tree. The shock knocked his hat off him and revealed a shaved head. He looked at me with complete hatred and reached for his gun.

"I don't want to kill you," I said as I slapped the gun away from his hand. He swore under his breath and looked back into my eyes.

"Then what do you want with me split-lip," He spat into my face with the last words. I growled at him and he smiled, I loosened my grip and he grabbed a cigar.

"I want to know what your men found," it was less of a question and more of a demand and I was pretty sure he caught onto that. He blew a smoke ring and shook his head.

"I don't know but whatever the hell it was it took out an entire platoon of the best men I had and we couldn't get a single shot on any of them,' he said as he stomped on a spider walking through the sludge. I squeezed my fist and twisted around to look him in the eyes.

"That is the very abomination I've worked very hard to wipe out and you released it," I screamed as I shook my fists with anger. He just shook off the idle threat and walked right up to me, I couldn't help but feel some respect for the brave human.

"I didn't release it, your dumb-ass friends were the ones who opened the doors before we did," I shook this off, the covenant never messed with sealed forerunner doors.

"They thought there were weapons hidden in there," the human said at my obvious denial. I hung my head, the covenant would, however, slice into forerunner doors for hidden weapons

"Okay, I'll believe you. Head to your transport while I clean up the mess," I said as I waved the human away.

"Oh no, I'm not gonna pass up this chance for an interrogation," the human said with a slight laugh. I wanted to turn around and face him but before I got the chance the human had jumped on me. I flung him into the water and stared at him. He laughed and grabbed his pistol, I charged at him and a sudden shot rang out. The bullet slammed into my shoulder. I put my hand to it and fell to my knees. The human took the chance and ran up to me. For his small height he was able to kick me in the head and I fell to my back. He jumped on my chest and hit me between the eyes with the butt of his pistol. Everything slowly went black.

For the second time in one day I woke up with a throbbing pain in my head but this time I had a bleeding wound to go with it. I looked at my shoulder and I could see where the human medics had crudely cut the bullet out. I looked around and I was in a dark room and I was tied to a chair. The door opened and the light momentarily blinded me.

The soldier that attacked me came in the room and sat down across from me. He was eying me with that same feeling of hatred. I smiled at him and he laughed.

"What were those things?" He said a little quietly but it was powerful nonetheless. I looked right into his eyes and his green eyes returned the stare, a penetrating and strange stare that gave you the feeling he was penetrating right through you.

"Those were a species of creature that survives by devouring and destroying everything. They spread like wildfire until an entire planet is consumed, they then mass an army capable of destroying planets with excruciating ease. They have only been defeated on a full scale by one thing," I said as the human stared at me some more. He looked a little worried but his voice was what gave it away. Everything else about him seemed calm and powerful.

"Were your kind the only thing to destroy?" he asked calmly. I smiled and he looked confused.

"No, our gods conquered them. Obliterated them with the rings your trying to destroy. That's why they must be activated, it will kill the abomination and send my kind to a blessed place where we will be gods," I said proudly but frowned at his expression. He was shaking and soon burst into deep laughter.

"Your gods defeated them with those rings, how?" he said after he stopped laughing. Unfortunately I had no idea how to answer this question. He frowned and shook his head.

"If they wiped hem out how is it that they're back?" He said as he stood up, but he still kept those penetrating eyes on me.

"They kept some of the abomination for research purposes, they weren't expecting you to come around and release them," I said with a little sarcasm in my voice. The human turned to me and confidently strode towards me. As soon as he got close to me he flung his fist back and then brought it back against my face. I spit out blood and turned back to him.

"You released those damn beasts you slime!" He screamed at me as he punched me again. I started to laugh and looked back at him.

"Our planet is safe from the abomination, they've locked onto your scent," I said as my laughs got stronger and stronger. The human started to look really worried but his anger quickly took over. He punched me again, this time some teeth shattered and stuck into his hand. I was still laughing.

"There is nothing you can do, they'll find earth very soon. Your entire species will disappear and we'll be able to activate the rings and continue down the blessed path," I continued to laugh as he hit me again. His hand was incredibly mangled from its abuse and blood was pouring out of it as well.

"There is nothing you can do, the prophets are behind it not me. I'm just an object in their great plan. Go ahead and kill me and you'll be no closer to the truth than you are now," I said through more laughs. The human started to wipe off his hand and when it was mostly clean he lit a cigar and started smoking it.

"There will be plenty of time for your death alien," he said as he blew smoke in my face the pungent smell almost made me sick as I tried to blink away the tears that the smoke forced into my eyes. I growled and he laughed, he walked through the door and left me in the complete darkness again.


	5. Banished Feelings

Chapter 4

I looked deep into the humans face, he still had dark skin but it seemed to have a little more darkness to it. He certainly looked as if he had aged more even though there last encounter was only a few months ago. Wrinkles now dominated most of his forehead and his cheeks seem to sag a bit more. He smiled at me and penetrated me with those green eyes which were a little blood shot from lack of sleep.

"My name is Sgt. Johnson," the human said as he held out his hand, I reluctantly took it and realized how much my hand dominated his. He seemed to have the same flashback because a small glint of worry spread through his eyes when I put my hand down beside my rifle. I noticed his hand instinctively went toward his right side as well.

"My name is Agrintus," I said as I looked towards the assault rifle slung over Johnsons back. He saw me looking and smiled.

"Still on your guard after what happened on halo," He said when he noticed me eying every detail of his weapons and armor. He smacked my arm and signaled for me to follow. I turned to look at my elites who seemed to have no intent to go in the base.

After walking through a large door that a tank could fit through I arrived in what looked like a warehouse filled with warthogs and scorpion tanks. I followed Johnson into a room filled with computers and a large screen dominated much of the wall opposite the door. Johnson walked up to the computer and typed something into the monitor below the screen and it lit up. Soon an image of a young woman appeared on the screen, she had black hair that went into her face and covered up her blue eyes. She was wearing a dirty white captains suit that had some blood on the knee. Johnson walked up beside me and looked at the screen.

"What is this about Johnson?" the woman asked, she didn't seem to be paying much attention to the screen because she was helping some soldiers rewire a big sphere.

"We may have some ground support to attack the storm," Johnson said rather gruffly, I notice how he wasn't standing with his back straight. He grunted rather loudly when she wasn't paying attention. She looked up at the screen and then I recognized her.

"Your the daughter of the man that attacked our ring!" I didn't mean for it to sound so threatening but this was a rather urgent matter. She turned her head to me and looked rather curiously at me. Her mouth was slightly parted and she finally stood up from where she was helping the soldier.

"Who are you?" she asked rather dully, she was staring intently at me and her eyes never left mine. I admired her ability to make him want to tell the truth even through this screen.

"I was commander of an elite force of soldiers tasked to the ring your father attacked. I tried to warn them of the abomination but your father ended up the first human victim," I never broke gaze the entire time until her eyes got a little too wet for my liking. I turned away and decided to rest my gaze upon a computer that held a diagram of the valley they were certainly going to attack.

"He died trying to make Earth safe so now I'm going to make sure he didn't die in vain," her voice was cracking slightly and when I turned back to her there were tear trails down her face. I nodded slightly.

"This here alien says he has a large enough force to assault the valley by ground but he needs air support first," Johnson said in an apparent attempt to change the subject. The woman looked into my face again and I had a strange feeling she knew that I didn't trust any of them. She smiled and nodded at me, a small tear was still running down her face.

"I'll see what I can do, but first I want your full allegiance. I also want to know that you will help us no matter what your feelings for us are," she had a slightly watery smile when she said this and I tried my hardest to return it. In the end I gave up the attempt and nodded slightly. She pressed a button and the screen went black again.

"You better get your troops ready if your going to attack this base," Johnson said as he turned away and walked up to a soldier dragging a crate across the floor. I watched as Johnson grabbed the other end of the heavy green box and helped carry it up a flight of stairs. I slowly made my way through the base. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the woman's image out of my head. She had a strange aura about her that made me think she wouldn't betray me. This only slightly comforted me because, like her father, she also seemed like if shed had the chance she could easily send me into a world of misery and crush my entire fleet.

When I got to the phantom the elites were sitting down inside it and eagerly told the pilots to take off when I walked inside. I sat down and thought about what was going to transpire over the next few days. Surely the humans knew the danger involved in attacking the valley. It would involve some great sniping on his part but the danger of falling frigates still sent shivers down his spine. There was a great chance the prophet would put up plenty of AA guns around the perimeter of the valley. I couldn't stand watching this whole mission going to waste just because the prophets know how to make a speedy getaway, either. What about the girl also, she saw the suicide mission her father went on and a week later two survivors from the ring arrive and tell her that her father was killed by a strange alien that we released upon them. I don't think she would take it very well if, after this whole war, their one chance at peace runs away towards the blessed path and all I can do is say I failed in what I'm best at.

The phantom gave a jolt and was soon docked inside my flagship. I was the last to leave the ship because my head was in my hands from all the stress of the voyage back. I slowly got to my feet and felt through the side hatch and walked to the bridge. It was quiet for the first time in what seemed like a year. All the pilots were silently typing orders into their individual monitors and the occasional messenger ran from pilot to pilot spreading the orders and data quickly throughout the entire bridge. I slowly walked through the circular room and sat in my chair at the front of the sphere of computers that sat in front of a large window that allowed me to see everything in front of the ship.

A pilot ran up to me and handed me a message written on a piece of paper. It had three words and the a signature. IT'S ON- Commander Keyes. I held the piece of paper and looked at it, so she also outranked her father. She must have been a very talented soldier, or at least extremely intelligent. Once again the image of her crying slipped into my head. I couldn't stand seeing her cry, I remember laughing at the humans who broke down in front of me asking for mercy. I remember feeling no pity and striking them down without a second thought, but today was different. Through all my training and preparation I never thought I would get close enough to a human to see them opening up to me like that. I couldn't have seen it coming but it still hit me like a blow to the chest. I couldn't help but feel the strongest pity for this woman who was about to try and confront and possibly defeat exactly what killed her father.

"Soldiers, prepare for war. We're going to assault the storm tomorrow, this is going to be close quarters combat but I still want sniper teams on scene. Get a good rest and don't forget to clean your weapons tonight. This is the moment of conquest," I said rather calmly into the intercom. I didn't want to sound worried but there was no holding it back. I hastily left the bridge and went to my private quarters. Once I got inside I shut the door and leaned up against the wall. I had to scream out loud from the feelings in my head. Pity wasn't part of our training and I was designed to neglect it. Anger was surging through my head because I was feeling pity, but the angrier I got the more sorry I was feeling for the crying woman and the Sgt. I wanted to hated so much.

I quickly fell to the ground in a disheveled pile and passed out. I woke up to the sound of rushing water and looked through a small window above my bunk. The rain was lashing at the top of the ship and rain was making a small waterfall as it poured over my window. I could only see through it when the lightning illuminated the view from the other side. I could see that we were well above the object in the middle of the storm. We were only safe because my ship still looked like it was under brute control. I had made the engineers update the phantoms with rebel colors before I passed out so that was the good thing. I quickly got up and looked at myself in the mirror I looked no different despite the pain still scorching the inside of my head. I walked into the hangar and men were lining up and getting inside green phantom, as they took off they quickly disappeared and went into the storm. I got into a phantom and felt it take off and be sucked into the storm.


	6. Into The Storm

Chapter 5

The ride was silent, I knew we were all thinking of how we were going to win. I had made sure to be deployed with the sniper squad so I could be the first on the field. As I was loading my beam rifle the screen at the north end of the phantom lit up. It was the woman who cried at the human base yesterday. She quickly scoured the phantom before finally finding me among the snipers. I looked into her eyes and my head started to sear again. I think she sensed something about me today because she gave me a cheery smile.

"Beautiful day for a war isn't it," she said cheerfully and I slightly nodded, I felt taken aback by her sudden cheerfulness and she apparently saw this.

"The master chief is here to assist us today, he's going to punch a hole in the AA perimeter just large enough for us to push all our frigates through and assault the valley with the best air support you can find," she was smiling rather proudly and I couldn't help but be drawn into it myself. Suddenly the pain in my head stopped and it felt like a great weight lifted off my shoulders. The screen went black and I stood up, the ten elites all looked at me and braced for a speech

"Our job is to make sure that the soldiers tearing into the valley aren't wiped out by too much opposition. We're going to be counter-sniping and sniping which s why there is such a large number of us. However, to cover the area we're splitting into three groups. The largest group, consisting of four snipers will stay at the cliff edge and they are counter-sniping. The second group will go with me and it will be two snipers ,plus me. We're going to stay at in a select two story building at the first checkpoint, this is inside a chokepoint that our soldiers will be storming through. The third group will stay behind the ground force and do mostly medium range combat, that is the reason you have been given carbines," after I said this the soldiers seemed to tense up and prepare for the next battle.

The phantom gave a shake and the side doors opened, from outside I could see the hundreds of phantoms disengaging their active camouflage and fire erupted. I waved my hand and four elites lined up at the edge of the cliff and opened fire. I ran down a trail and was suddenly knocked aside. An elite had slipped on the mud and fell off the edge, he managed to dig his hand into the mud and was holding on by mere fingers. One of the elites holding a carbine reached down and tried to pull him up. As he was starting to make some progress a whine sent through the air. I looked around and saw two purple streaks in the air and a banshee flew through the rain. Driven off course it slammed into the mud wall above us and sent of shower of water, rock, and slime everywhere. A boulder clipped the shoulder of the struggling elite and he fell fifty feet to the valley below.

The elites were transfixed by the mangled body that was staring blankly at them from far below. The elites slowly broke away and continued down the trail, I watched five ghosts break through a wall of brutes and the elites riding them cheered. I smiled as the elites with carbines ran towards the brutes with their weapons firing. I grabbed the final elite that was with me and pulled him into a building beside the trail my army was going down. I climbed up the creaking stairs and was shocked to find the outpost completely empty I walked up to a window and saw the battle that was ensuing. Unfortunately, the air support hadn't yet arrived and my forces were being pummeled by banshees. That, however, didn't seem to bother me. I stuck my gun out the window and quickly sent a purple beam through the head of a brute holding a hammer. His body crumpled and the brutes beside him growled into the rain. It was getting harder to see the battlefield through the storm but I quickly learned to time the lightning for the most precise shots I could muster.

Then many things happened at once: the rain stopped, a wraith tank was destroyed right beside the outpost, a lightning bolt set a trail of fuel on fire, and a scarab burst out of the ground and sent a beam of green acid everywhere. I jumped into the other room and got on my stomach as the beam traveled into the outpost and quickly killed the other elite. Wood scattered on top of me and small drops of rain told me the roof was blown off.

I slowly got to my feet and looked around, the scarab was walking through the valley and tearing everything apart. I got on top of the windowsill and screamed into the air.

"Retreat, retreat!" but no one heard me. I didn't blame them, he battle was too loud for me to hear myself. The wind picked up but I noticed it was a frigate crawling over the cliff edge. I saw it blast the scarab with a MAC round and send it exploding into a blast of hot metal. I watched as frigates poured into the air and unleashed rounds into the ship in the center of the valley. Suddenly a beam went into the air and a black hole appeared in the air. The ship shot up into it as the brute ships followed. A phantom flew beside me and I jumped in. I watched through the open side hatch as all my phantoms flew into the hole.


	7. Love or Hell

**Chapter 6**

**I quickly jumped out of the phantom as it was docking in the human frigate. I ran down the hall barely paying attention to what I was doing, I was quickly completely exhausted and very lost. I rounded a corner and ran into a marine. He looked up and was shivering with fear. I looked down to what he was staring at and quickly realized I had instinctively pulled out my sword. I jammed it back into the hilt and the marine tried to run around me. I suddenly had an idea, I whipped around and grabbed the marine by the arm.**

"**Where's the bridge?" I asked as the marine completely freaked out. The marine pointed a shaking finger at a door down the hall. I loosened my grip and the marine was able to wrestle himself free and rushed away from me. I let out a small laugh before I gained my composure and started hastily walking down the darkening corridor. **

**I walked into a strange sight, the bridge was bigger than the covenants bridges but it had a cramped feeling from all the monitors blinking everywhere. There were less pilots but they were running from computer to computer looking exhausted. I saw Johnson walk in and I grabbed the back of his shirt. I slung him backwards and tossed him against the wall. I grabbed the neck of his shirt and held him up, still crushing him against the wall.**

"**Where are we?" I screamed into his face and no sign of emotion showed up on his face. He smirked and looked at the window. I looked as well and I saw the crying woman, not on a screen, but standing right in front of me. She was staring at me but didn't seem the least bit worried.**

"**Where are we!" this time it wasn't a question I was demanding the information I wanted so badly. Johnson noticed this and he glared at me with fury I hadn't seen in three months.**

"**You should know elite , your kind brought us here," Johnson seemed to be mocking me now. He was right though, I was so high up in rank I should've seen this sometime. I threw Johnson onto his back and he laid, sprawled, on the ground. I pulled out a plasma rifle and pointed it directly at his head. He looked at me with a strange fury that told me he wanted to kill me but he was calm enough not to lose control. **

"**Stop!" this scream had come from the girl. I looked up and saw her staring at me, the pain had once again returned to my head. I hated the thought of me feeling pity. I wanted nothing more than to have the strength to kill Johnson in front of all those people. To scream a battle-cry into the air while they all tried to recover him. I had all this rage pumping through my system. I had enough to kill everyone in this ship, all I had to do was use my active-camo, pull out my sword and slaughter everyone of these pathetic creatures one by one. The only thing that was holding me back was me and my pity for their race. I tried to remember Johnson as the human that tied me up and tortured me but it still didn't work. I looked up and the girl was still staring at me. I couldn't fight any more, I dropped my gun and collapsed.**

**I woke up to Johnson and the woman standing over me. I had apparently been dragged off into the hall because I didn't have the feeling of being in an advanced coffin. Johnson had marks on his neck from where my hands were choking him before I threw him to the ground.**

"**Where are we?" it was the only thing I could think of. I wanted to know and yet they never told me.**

"**We don't know," the woman said. I sat my self up and Johnson and the woman exchanged anxious glances. I looked up at them and grunted.**

"**We sent the master chief down there if that cheers you up," Johnson said as he looked down the hall I was laying in.**

"**Speaking of that you better get down their and deliver those reinforcements," the woman said. Johnson looked at her in confusion and then quickly ran down the hall. I looked at the woman with slight curiosity. She sighed and then sat down beside me.**

"**Why did you come here?" she said it rather quickly and I was surprised by the calmness with which she spoke. Anyone else would have been angry that I almost killed someone right in front of their eyes.**

"**I wanted to know what that thing was?" I said as I lowered my head. I couldn't bear to look at her now. I wish she would yell at me, I couldn't bear sitting here when she didn't even seem to care what I did.**

"**Why did you attack my sergeant?" she said this with a bit of haste and I was finally able to look up. There it was, the reason I attacked him. Those eyes changed me, I didn't know how and I didn't know why but I was sure it was those eyes fault. I didn't want to say anything but they were definitely doing their magic. **

"**I shouldn't be helping you," I couldn't stop it. The truth burst from me before I could hold it in. The weird part was that she didn't look offended. She just continued to sit on the ground and stare up at me. Her head was tilted like a little kid that didn't know what she was staring at.**

"**Go on," she said rather quietly. I didn't want to say anything else but it came up like vomit.**

"**Ever since I've talked to you and I saw you cry I've felt compassion for the humans. But I'm not supposed to, I'm supposed to walk up to my enemies and slaughter them without a second thought. I had a channel for my rage my entire life but I became dependant on humans and now that I have compassion for them the rage is building up and I don't know what to do about it," I was staring at her for sometime after this before I realized I was bracing myself so much for her next words that I was forgetting to breathe. I quickly gasped for air and then went right back to staring at her. She wasn't showing any emotion on her face except deep thought and a twinge of curiosity.**

"**So your saying you feel compassion for humans but your willing to attack my sergeant and a few marines?" I didn't realize this was a question for a few seconds and then I slowly nodded. She stood up and got as close as she could while still being able to look me in the eyes. She smiled a little bit and her eyes lit up.**

"**That's not compassion your thinking of," she said as she turned around in thought. I was confused and I wasn't afraid to show it.**

"**Then what are these human feelings that are ripping me apart?" I said a little urgently. She was so deep in thought that she ignored me. I both her arms and turned her to where she was looking at me again. This time her eyes were dazzling with fear and I quickly let her go.**

"**Think, your mad at me but yet you looked right at me and pointed the gun and Johnson," she was talking rather loudly now but her eyes were back to the rather dreamy state. I just shrugged slightly and she laughed.**

"**Its love, you didn't realize it because these are human emotions. You didn't pay attention to love when you were spying on humans so you thought it was pity and compassion. You hate yourself because you've fallen in love with the enemy. You can't kill Johnson because he's close to the person you love. You didn't realize that love is even more powerful than hate. You can hate someone and slowly fall in love with them, but once you love someone it's near impossible to start hating them," she was smiling at me and I finally understood. I looked around and saw no other marines I was pretty sure it was possible for elites to blush but I didn't care.**

"**Since we've solved why you can't kill humans I think I know how we can solve the fact that your missing a channel for your anger," she had a smug look on her face and she finally patted me on the arm. I was listening with a good curiosity and my heart jumped when she turned back to me and looked into my eyes and I saw an aura of kindness in them.**

"**The rest of the covenant should be good fodder for your anger," she said as I felt as if a weight had dropped in the pit of my stomach. I distinctively remembered the last time I faced a brute. Had I not needed a human to sacrifice his life so that I wasn't strangled in front of them. My thoughts then turned to the poor marine in the unmarked grave who's family was bound to have realized that they would have one empty seat that nothing could fill. One less occupied room. One less seat occupied seat at church. I realized now that when he died an entire lifetime of memories now had no owner. I saw that he was leaving behind so many people who would miss him and cry for him every time his name was brought up. I noticed that one small motion of my finger could end something that people worked years to create.**

**I let myself break down in the halls and I didn't care who saw or watched. Miranda quickly jumped to my aid and the last thing I saw before blacking out was her face. **


End file.
